I’m so late with this post! Better late than never? The Fibre Shindig in April was a fabulous event as a vendor and as a shopper. It is one of my favourite fibre markets, complete with lovely organizers, helpful volunteers, and of course, the amazing shoppers. Every single booth contains handmade items, and for someone like myself that enjoys skilled craft, it’s a dream. I can’t help but adore a market where people walking by will share the names of patterns used for their garments. My favourite item of the day was a copper Dewberry that I saw wandering the floor in all of its beauty. Another project of note was a long sleeved short cardi in bright stripes. What a joy to see and to wear! This was Jason’s first time vending at a fibre fair, and everyone was so kind to him. He managed packing, credit card processing and answering questions when his wife (aka me) became dazzled by yarn and the many familiar faces that stopped by. He enjoyed himself and I heard him tell his mother later that “knitters and crocheters are SO nice”. FIBRE LOVERS HIGH FIVE! We impressed the man. He will definitely be coming to future shows. I missed my great friend Lori who normally comes along for the fun, and I hope we can figure out how to get all three of us to shows at the same time – there will be even more laughter. We were in the same spot as the Fall 2015 Shindig and I adore it because I can see the entire room easily. I was across from skilled artisans Quirefly, Anna’s Needle Critters, Turtle Soup Crafts, and neighbours with the always lovely Sarah from Sea Turtle Fibre Arts to my right, and a potter and quilter Clay & Cloth on my left. The full vendor list is on The Fibre Shindig page, and you will see that they have gathered wonderful people and I was very excited to be in their company once again. When I had a moment to get away, I blew my personal budget in my first walk around, but hey, Calgary only has a handful of times when such great yarn is all gathered in one place. At the Fall Shindig, a great piece by FemmeBroidery came home with me. This year, I was entranced by the 80s Glam colourway by Sea Turtle Fibre Arts. It will be a hat for ME. Or possibly a Dewberry? Or… well, right now, it sits on my desk and I pet it. The Dragonfly Dyewerx Subversive Sock Blanks have SWEAR WORDS on it that no one will ever know about once it’s knit up. This especially tickled my fancy. I have a weakness for swear words, it’s true – drop as many pots as I have and you’d have a very colourful vocabulary too. I stopped to say hi to Jacqueline of Wicked Potter who also belongs to the Etsy Alberta Street Team – her cold pressed soap and earrings needed to come home with me too! I missed the elephant needle felting kit from Fibre Ark but I was able to scoop the sweetest little blue bird from Anna’s Needle Critters. The beautiful vendor apron in blues with my flame logo is by the talented Tamara from EllSpins. She even used one of my very first buttons to great the snap enclosure! Brilliant. If you are a vendor, contact her for an extremely well designed and robust apron. It holds cash and change, my Square reader, my notepad, and my pen. I, along with many of the vendors, picked up a crocheted sheep from Turtle Soup Crafts. I don’t have a great photo of it since I have not been able to get it back since my son grabbed it out of my bag. He has carted his new fleecy friend about the neighbourhood and slept with it nightly since the velour yarn of the sheep body is so soft. All in all, it was a wonderful day. We stopped off at Brewster’s for a refreshing beverage on the way home, and sent cheers to all of the organizers, volunteers, vendors, and shoppers that we were lucky to meet. Thank you to everyone that stopped by, shared a laugh, purchased an item, and contributed to the great atmosphere. I’m very excited for the autumn fibre markets and can’t wait to see everyone again.

Jason has a herd of sheep almost ready for firing! I’ll add some handles tonight, and after another batch, they’ll be into the kiln for the first of two firings. We’ll glaze them up, and back into the kiln they’ll go for their final firing. We have orders coming through Etsy and emails, so we are working to get them out on time. The kiln will be busy for the next two weeks! We expect to repeat the process in June, so if you’ve been waiting to order, don’t wait too long or you’ll have to wait for longer. He’s also working on some “Naughty Mugs” with words that seem to make some blush and some laugh, and most want one. They make me giggle and I’m looking forward to his planned variations – basically signaling to everyone around that they should leave you alone because you have fun things to do instead. We’ll sell them through the Facebook page and on this website once we have the e-commerce module set up because I’m just not sure that Etsy will appreciate the… ahem… language on these beauties. Details on how to purchase the Naughty Mugs aka the sweary mugs will be available once they’re out of the kiln.  

Here’s a sneak peek of some of the buttons that came out of the latest kiln firing. This batch was heavy on square beauties since I was completely out of square stock. There are hundreds of unique buttons, but I can’t help but show off some of what I’m packaging up tonight! My favourite glaze combination, this time on swirly squares: For those, like me, that like some fancy added to their knitting, crochet, and sewing projects: My newest glaze which proves again that taking a chance on a new glaze can be a wonderful decision. These are so full of depth and gloss: A lovely group of serene glaze colours that complement the great textures: If you’re in Calgary and you love shiny things, come see these in person Oct 7 or Nov 17! I have many sets of 2-5 that are great for cowls as the chill of autumn reminds us that it’s time to get the needles and hooks going to get our projects ready for the first snowfall. I’m going back to packaging handmade buttons and getting them prepared to find their new homes. Have a great night!